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Beth Smith
Beth Smith (née Sanchez) is the daughter of Rick Sanchez, the wife of Jerry Smith, and the mother of Summer Smith and Morty. She currently acts as the mother, and daughter, of the Morty Smith and Rick Sanchez from Dimension C-137, respectively. She is currently employed as a veterinary surgeon at St. Equis Hospital. Characterized by a superiority complex and abandonment issues, Beth gradually came to struggle with her husband over his contributions to their marriage, due in part to his lower-level position and subsequent employment, further driven by her father influencing her feelings of superiority. Since their divorce, she has focused on raising her two children. However, by the finale she decides to reconnect with Jerry and they are living together with their children and her father. History and Background The details of Beth's history are relatively unknown. Born to Rick Sanchez and Mrs. Sanchez, she has recounted herself as a "bright-eyed" young girl from Muskegon, Michigan in "Meeseeks and Destroy". At some point during her childhood, her parents' marriage deteriorated amid unknown circumstances and her father left her mother. Beth blamed herself for her parents' falling out, and seeing her father as an intelligent scientist compared to her "unremarkable" single mother, Beth came to idolize her father and blamed her mother for "chasing off the dad with the guts to leave". Beth aspired to become a heart surgeon as an adult, but during High School at age seventeen, she went to prom with classmate Jerry Smith, possibly out of pity, and they had sex, and she became impregnated with her first child, Summer. She contemplated aborting Summer, later justifying that "everybody thinks about it", but managed to get into college and become a veterinary surgeon, specializing in horses, eventually finding work at St. Equis Hospital. Beth was somewhat distant towards her children at their infancy, as implied in "Raising Gazorpazorp", feeling that coddling them would make them dependent or end up like her husband, though it has been implied by Dan Harmon and the episodes "Rick Potion No. 9" and "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" that Jerry and Beth's relationship was more stable before Rick came back into her life. Appearance Beth has blonde hair, and a head shape similar to Rick's. She wears a red collar shirt, blue pants and white shoes. As a child, Beth wore overalls with a red shirt, long white socks, and black Mary Janes, as well as a green hair-clip and two wristbands. Personality Beth is an intelligent, ambitious, and independent woman who suffers from a variety of deep-seated insecurities. A dedicated veterinary horse surgeon, she is the family's main breadwinner and often tries to do the best for her family based on this sense of responsibility. She is highly insecure about her profession as a horse surgeon, and is quick to snap at the implication she is not a 'real' surgeon or a 'real' veterinarian. She may share this belief, wishing she had been able to continue her medical education to become a 'real' doctor in "Rixty Minutes". Nonetheless, she is very dedicated to her job, even beyond as a source of income, and was willing to give up her own pride to help successfully save a deer's life in "A Rickle in Time." Although Beth can sometimes be derisive of what she sees as weakness, dependence or emotional vulnerability, she can still be compassionate and caring at times, more so than her father. When she and Jerry accidentally hit a deer, her first concerns were to help and assist it and Beth would stop at nothing to bring it back to health. She often expresses grave concern for Morty's education and health, when they are not related to Rick, and is considerate of the consequences on her children of her leaving Jerry. She has generally considered her family her first priority and has "defined her life" around her marriage to Jerry, which has at times driven her marital regrets. Her dedication to her family can fade quickly if she feels patronized, devalued, or that she or another family member, such as Morty or Rick, is threatened. Beth has a superiority complex, believing herself at times to be above others as a way of hiding her insecurities, and has extended this behavior to those such as her son Morty, particularly when he is shown taking care of his own son, and her husband, who unwittingly feeds her insecurities by implying she was not a 'real' surgeon. Her genius father's preference for her over her 'idiot' husband has in turn fed her feelings of superiority, especially towards Jerry. She also exhibited resentment towards being patronized during her surgical work, such as by her co-worker, Davin when he lets her know they're losing a patient, or when another veterinarian implies she cannot save a deer. These feelings of superiority, however, seem to disappear quickly when Rick is removed from her life or even when she merely feels more confident in herself. As a result of her father's disappearance, Beth has come to fixate on exceptionalism and intelligence, and has a fear of abandonment, resulting in a deep-seated desire to keep her father in her life. As a result, she is generally willing to put up with Rick and his needs without sarcasm or argument, rationalizing his experiments and behavior, and can become defensive and even insecure about this when challenged. However, she has some limits even for his behavior, and has given him ultimatums in "Pilot" and "Auto Erotic Assimilation", which he has ultimately followed. When meeting Dr. Wong however, she largely bragged about her father as a scientist and resented having to discuss him. Her relationship with her parents has also affected her marriage. Beth and Jerry remained together partially due to her belief that he is the only man in her life who has not abandoned her, but his vulnerability also undermined this by reminding her more of her 'unremarkable' mother and emphasizing his lack of intelligence or exceptional traits. While both she and Jerry share a number of common goals, generally around doing what is best for their family, these goals are strained by their disagreement on how to achieve these ends. She is often critical of his ideas, and suggests she may feel held back or unappreciated by him. Their disagreement over Rick's living situation with them is an extremely frequent source of tension. While in many cases, including with their son, Jerry is often the more sentimental and nurturing one, when the issue comes to Rick, she is often the one justifying his actions. Beth has notably inherited her father's tendency to rely on alcohol to control stress, drinking wine briefly in "Meeseeks and Destroy" and amid more stressful situations, very heavily in both "Rixty Minutes", at the end of "Total Rickall" and in "The Rickshank Rickdemption". She also expresses excitement at the offer to go out for a drink with Rick in "Pickle Rick", seeming to overlook both of her children. A separate flashback in "Total Rickall" also shows her suffering from a severe hangover. In addition, Beth can be highly sarcastic at times, such as when she predicted Snuffles increased intelligence would backfire in the episode, "Lawnmower Dog". In the Season 3 episode, "The ABC's of Beth", an even further layer of Beth's personality was revealed. Rick discloses that she had a tumultuous and destructive childhood, only exacerbated by her murderous and sociopathic tendencies (which Rick accredits to his own mental state, and whose behavior as a role model and eventual disappearance no doubt contributed to). Despite having acclimated towards a relatively normal life in adulthood, this layer again reveals itself when she goes to confront her childhood friend, Tommy, and end the chaos ruling over her former "imaginary" paradise, Froopyland. During the chaos, she then realizes that while her childhood self idolized Rick and wanted to be like him, Rick remains a deeply flawed individual and (by some cruel twist of fate), she turned out exactly like him- needlessly destructive. It is implied that the both of them deeply misunderstand the world as it appears to the majority, who can easily adapt to it and live in accordance to a lifestyle set out for them through their own choice- who know what they want and their life direction, even if only for the fact that that they allow themselves to experience satisfaction, happiness and completion, instead of only sort of contempt towards an ordinary life in some misguided attempt to overcome it. Realizing that in divorcing Jerry and coming to terms with the way she is that there is no one and nothing holding her back from a living a life of self-determination in accordance to her true, broken identity, Rick proposes that Beth resolve her identity issues through exploring the multiverse while an identical clone takes her place for however long she is gone (or even a lifetime). It is not disclosed whether or not Beth decides to remain. It is likely that she chose the latter based on the scenes that followed. The episode also revealed that Beth was very lonely as a child, and may very well still be, having asked Rick to make her a whip that would make people like her, and a sentient switchblade. She was also envious of her friend Tommy's family, and his father who was present in his life, which lead her to abandon him in Froopyland, mirroring her father's image, and roused her to become a better person by her own standards. Relationships Romance 'Jerry' Jerry and Beth met in high school and had unprotected sex on prom night, resulting in the pregnancy that produced Summer, and seem to have been together and married ever since. Morty was born three years later. Their relationship is very rocky and strained, due to the fact that both of them missed out on fulfilling their dreams due to poor decisions when they were younger. Beth often contemplates leaving Jerry to pursue her own dreams and happiness, mentioning taking "a trip" or "a break", while Jerry still loves her and often tries to keep their marriage together. Beth believes her father to be a better influence on their children than Jerry, which is another reason he has continued to live with them. Jerry doesn't always seem to respect her occupation as horse surgeon and occasionally has Freudian slips about it, which greatly offends her, and she is often frustrated by Jerry's insecurities and immature actions. She describes loving Jerry as "hard work", and that she "sort of" loves him in "Rick Potion No. 9". In "Rixty Minutes", Jerry and Beth both get to see an alternate version of themselves in a different reality and find themselves unsatisfied with their current lives, leading them to eventually decide that splitting up would be inevitable. However, the alternate Jerry and Beth eventually realize that they are miserable without one another and get together after years apart. Seeing this renewed Jerry and Beth's relationship and they opted not to split up. In "The Rickshank Rickdemption", Jerry took a stand against Rick's behavior towards the family, apparent manipulation of Beth's father issues in order to live rent-free, and his frequently putting the children in danger. He told Beth that it was him or Rick which led to the two deciding to divorce. In The Rickchurian Mortydate, Beth visits him when she suffers from identity crisis and he reflects on a high school date they had and she ends up kissing him as thanks. They decide to get back together and hide from Rick who still tracks them down but begrudgingly accepts their choice. At the end, they are living together again with both being happier and Beth defended Jerry from Rick's insults. Family 'Rick' Not much is known about Beth and Rick's relationship prior to the events of the series. Jerry insinuates that Beth was raised "like a reptile" by Rick, suggesting that his method of parenting was very unorthodox. It is known that he left her mother for unknown reasons. Beth is very happy that her father came back into her life sometime prior to "Pilot." She is usually defensive of him when Jerry badmouths him, and is largely convinced that Rick is good for the family. When she came to realize that Rick was indeed a bad influence on Morty and agreed with Jerry to send him to a nursing home, Morty seemed to exhibit superhuman intelligence—actually the results of dissolving megaseeds—further convincing her to keep him around. Beth affectionately celebrates the one-year anniversary of Rick's return in Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind with UFO-shaped pancakes and despite her usual independence, seems to dote on him - and his alternate selves - in the same episode. This Beth, however, is not the same as the Beth in ''Rick Potion No. 9'', who comes to the conclusion that Rick is "a selfish, irresponsible ass," after he turned everyone on Earth into monsters and abandoned her, Jerry and Summer. In the season 2 finale, "The Wedding Squanchers", Beth gets a closer look at her dad's personal life, and tries her best to keep Jerry from ruining her chances of going on adventures with him more often. Later in the episode, Beth is heartbroken to find that Rick abandoned her a second time (little did she know that this time, he turned himself in to protect her and her family from the Federation). When the family is taken back to earth by the Galactic Federation, she bursts into tears. At the same time in the episode, Rick's self-sacrifice proved that he actually does care about her. Beth also seems to enjoy Rick's inventions, and appreciates the help he gives her. She allows Rick to stay rent-free in her home due to the fact that she doesn't want him leaving her again. That is the same reason why she disagreed with Jerry so strongly, and wept, when he suggested that the family turn in Rick to the Galactic Federation so that they can go back home to Earth in "The Wedding Squanchers." In the Season 3 premiere, "The Rickshank Rickdemption", when Jerry finally gives Beth the ultimatum of choosing him or Rick, Beth chooses Rick, leading to their divorce. Shortly after, Beth insists to Rick that the divorce would be good for Jerry, and the family, after he expresses remorse. Rick later admits to Morty that he had a hand in manipulating this because Jerry went against him. In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Morty lashes out on Beth for her distance towards him and Summer. He blames this on her relationship with Rick, telling her that she doesn't need to prove herself to be worthy of Rick's love by acting essentially just like him, as it is making her appear just as narcissistic and irresponsible. And that while she's trying to gain Rick's approval, she's hurting him and Summer. Beth believed she needed to prove herself to Rick because of how rarely he ever tells her he loves her. He admits this to Jaguar in, "Pickle Rick." Rick also admitted in the same episode to Jerry that he believes Jerry impregnating Beth ruined her chances of being successful, and detests him for his detachment to his daughter. Beth's awareness of her mistreatment of her children may drive her farther away from Rick, as she will likely stop trying to get him to love her, and instead find solace in her relationship with her kids. In the episode, "The ABC's of Beth", after Beth and Rick clone her friend Tommy and save his father from being executed, they share a long awaited, and progressive moment with each other. Beth discovers that all her life she's been lying to herself that her father is a good person, and tried desperately to be just like him. She realizes that she doesn't want to be like him anymore, and that she wants to be herself. Rick finally tells her that he genuinely loves her, although in his own way. And proves this to her by giving her an ultimatum. He would clone her, and let her leave to do what she wants, or she could stay, and continue to care for the family. It is likely that Beth chose the latter option based on the scenes that followed. Grazing her fingers across the photos attached to the fridge, Beth smiles at each picture: A picture of Mr. Poopybutthole, her and Jerry on their wedding day, Rick, Summer, and lastly Morty, whose picture she rests her finger on the longest. 'Morty' Beth knows that Morty is not very intelligent, and wants him to succeed in school. She has no problems allowing Rick to take Morty on most adventures, believing Rick is not only teaching him valuable life skills and improving his intelligence, but that he is the only friend Morty has. She believes that Morty was filled with Jerry's insecurities as a result of Jerry's overly-nurturing method of raising him, and consequently, she is largely absent from Morty's life. Despite this, Beth does seem to consistently care about Morty's well-being, as she asks if Morty is getting sick in "Pilot", and is deeply concerned about the fact that he does not do well in school or have any friends. She was even willing to sacrifice her relationship with Rick, so that Morty could do better in school, in the same episode. In "Rick Potion No. 9", the original Beth admits that without Morty and Rick around, she is much happier, and seems indifferent to his fate. It isn't unlikely that in the case that the same events were to occur in the replacement dimension, as they had in dimension C-137, that this Beth would feel the same way. However, in "The Rickshank Rickdemption", that same Beth, along with the original Jerry and Summer, were going to kill the Summer of the replacement dimension, and keep Morty, meaning they missed him during their time apart. In "Something Ricked This Way Comes", Beth communicates with Morty through text, reminding him of Jerry's intellectual insecurities, so that he will accept Jerry's offer to help him with his science project. Implying that they have a close relationship, and have a mutual understanding for each other, and Jerry. Apart from this, their relationship has yet to be explored in any other significant detail in the series. That is, until "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy." In "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", Morty lashes out on Beth for her distance towards him and Summer. He blames this on her relationship with Rick, telling her that she doesn't need to prove herself to be worthy of Rick's love by acting essentially just like him, as it is making her appear just as narcissistic and irresponsible. And that while she's trying to gain Rick's approval, she's hurting him and Summer. Upon realizing this, Beth institutes change, and later uses the morphizer to make herself giant, puts her skin inside out, and comforts Summer who was crying, and really needed her at the moment. Beth's awareness of her mistreatment of her children has initiated a change in her, making her more motherly and understanding. This change will likely bring her closer to Morty, as well as Summer. But farther from Rick. 'Summer' Beth loves and cares about Summer, but the two do not seem very close much of the time. Beth had originally planned to get Summer aborted when she was still a fetus, but due to the fact that she and Jerry blew a tire on the way to the abortion clinic, they kept Summer. In Meeseeks and Destroy, Beth and Summer happily go shopping together after their Meeseeks disappear. Urging her father he may lose her, Summer acknowledges that Beth is a "beautiful woman". In a flashback from the episode, ''Total Rickall'', a drunken Beth accidentally hits Summer in the eye with a bottle on her picture day. She tries to clean up her bruise with make-up. Summer tears up and insists the police take her to school instead of Beth. In ''Rick and Morty's Rushed Licensed Adventure'','' Summer has an over-sized bra in her closet and jealously claims she'll grow into it because "Beth's got big boobs". She is initially unskilled in dealing with Summer's teenage emotional issues such as when Summer becomes very doubtful of her attractiveness after her boyfriend, Ethan, dumps her in "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" for a girl with larger breasts but comes around eventually after Morty tells her how distant she's been towards him, and Summer. Beth later uses the morphizer to enlarge herself, puts her skin inside out, and comforts a crying Summer. Beth's change in parenting in the episode may be permanent, as she hasn't been as motherly or supportive in any other episode, especially not to Summer, who along with Morty needs this the most from her. In "Morty's Mind Blowers", it was revealed that Beth favored Summer over Morty. Beth was trapped in a situation, where an evil alien from another dimension was planning on killing one of her two kids, and graced her with the choice of which one lives. Without any hesitation, Beth immediately demanded that Summer be the one who survives. Her preference for Summer over Morty could be because she is jealous of his close relationship with Rick. Others 'Mr. Poopybutthole Throughout the episode, ''Total Rickall'', Beth acts suspiciously towards Mr. Poopybutthole, mistaking him for a parasite. Near the end of the episode, Beth pulls out one of Rick's laser guns and shoots Mr. Poopybutthole in the chest, blasting him across the room onto a wall. The rest of the family panics and Beth retreats into the kitchen and haphazardly pours a glass of wine while her eyes filled with tears as Mr. Poopybutthole bleeds heavily while awaiting an ambulance. After the end credits sequence, Mr. Poopybutthole is shown slowly recovering inside the hospital. After telling the doctor that he no longer wishes to see the Smiths at this point in time, the doctor tells Beth that's he's sorry that "They never had any bad memories of him." Davin Davin is Beth's coworker at St. Equis Hospital. Davin is in love with Beth and he constantly hits on her and tries to seduce her and win her over. Beth denies having any feelings for him, which she most likely doesn't, but Jerry does not trust her around him. Davin tries to romance Beth in ''Rick Potion No. 9'', but sneezes and is affected by Morty's love potion, asking "how soft are his privates". Davin turns into a "mantis-person" as a result of Rick's cure for it, and attacks Beth. Jerry bursts through the door and beats Davin to death with a crowbar. Since Rick and Morty have entered another dimension, it is unlikely these events occurred Appearances '''Note: This is a list of all the appearances of the current Beth Smith from the Replacement dimension. The prominence of the original from Dimension C-137 is included on the page of Beth Smith (C-137). Season 1 *"Rick Potion #9" *"Raising Gazorpazorp" *"Rixty Minutes" *"Something Ricked This Way Comes" *"Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" *"Ricksy Business" Season 2 *"A Rickle in Time" *"Mortynight Run" (As a Costume) *"Auto Erotic Assimilation" *"Total Rickall" *"Get Schwifty" *"Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" *"Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" *"Look Who's Purging Now" *"The Wedding Squanchers" Season 3 *"The Rickshank Rickdemption" *"Rickmancing the Stone" *"Pickle Rick" *"Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" (Cameo) *"The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" *"Rest and Ricklaxation" *"The Ricklantis Mixup (as a child) *"Morty's Mind Blowers" *"The ABC's of Beth" Other Media * "The Non-Canonical Adventures" Trivia *Beth's voice actress, Sarah Chalke, has previously starred as a blonde-haired doctor before in the comedy-drama series Scrubs, and also on How I Met Your Mother. *Beth is a questioning atheist, as seen in the episode ''Get Schwifty''. This belief is likely due to the fact that she was brought up by Rick Sanchez, a complete Atheist, who has also given her insight to the vast and limitless possibilities of the universe. *Similar to Rick, Beth appears to be aware that they are in a TV show, quoting at the end of ''The Rickchurian Mortydate'' that the family will be "back to the way it was in season 1" after she and Jerry get back together. *In ''The Rickshank Rickdemption'', Rick created a false memory of Beth's mother. Her mother was a freckle faced, blonde haired woman named Diane Sanchez that bore a striking resemblance of her. Rick made an experiment that went awry, killing her mother, when Beth was only a child. This would've explained the absence of her mother, if it didn't soon turn out to be fabricated. Still, it's unknown if Beth's mother is anything like what she was portrayed to be, in terms of identity and appearance. *Beth drives a red Honda Civic. *Dan Harmon has been quoted as saying Beth is his favorite character. *Her husband's name "Jerry" is derived from the Hebrew word "Jeroboam", meaning " large wine bottle". Amusingly, this could be a hint that she's "married to the wine bottle" in more than one sense. Gallery S1e6 impressed beth.png S1e5 beth talking.png S1e1 horse surgery.png S2e3 arguing beth and jerry.png S1e8 drunk beth.png S2e1 expetant stares.png S1e1 we can hear tom.png S2e1 focused beth.png S2e4 beth memories.png S2e4 beth drinking wine.png S1e7 cute baby.png S2e10 i squanch my family.png S1e3 beth pad.png S2e4 beth takes aim.png S2e4 beth scream.png Behind the Scenes Dan Harmon has frequently offered insight into Beth's characterization since early around the release of the first season, observing that it is Beth whose behavior enables Rick to be able to take Morty on their adventures. *"Oh my God. Beth is so messed up. I guess I I know more about her than what you've learned so far, but you know she got pregnant at seventeen. You know the guy that knocked her up wouldn't have been her first choice. You know her mother's out of the picture but that her Dad, who was out of the picture when she was a child, is now back IN the picture, and that, unlike Jerry, she seems relatively fine with his influence on her learning-disabled son. It seems like she'd rather her son risk his life with her insane father than end up being...like her husband. That's really, really fucked up. ...We know that kids blame themselves for their parents breaking up, that's pretty standard psychology. But from there, we have different mechanisms for coping with the blame. And one of the strategies we see people employ, in the face of an absentee parent, is a deification of the parent that takes LESS responsibility. Beth thinks her dad is better than her mother because her dad had the brain and guts to leave her. That's really, really fucked up. ...Rick's daughter is more fucked up than Rick, and fucked up because of Rick, don't you worry about that."We are Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland creators of Rick and Morty on adult swim *"I was like, “Why would that be the case? Why would any parents let this crazy man disappear through clearly dangerous portals with their son?” And after talking about it with Justin for a while, I realized the most important thing about that show for me which is that Rick left at one point in Beth”s childhood and Beth blamed her mother for Rick”s absence. Kids can sometimes idolize their worst parent and blame their supportive parent for chasing off the dad with the guts to leave. Sometimes they don”t even admit it to themselves but they say, “My dad”s so fucking cool, he got the fuck out of here. And my mom”s such a bitch she”s always asking me to clean my room. That”s why dad left. She probably asked him to clean his room.” And in Beth”s case, she”s a horse heart surgeon. She”s not a real surgeon. She”s a horse heart surgeon because she got pregnant at 17. And she fetishizes exceptionality. She believes that Rick, as crazy as he is, is the better of her two parents even though she was raised by her mother and she blames her mother”s unremarkability on her father”s departure and will do anything to keep her father back in her life. And if Morty needs to risk his life traipsing across the galaxy with her insane alcoholic father, it”s better than Morty growing up in safety and ending up like her mother or her husband Jerry who she considers to be unremarkable and unredemptive and therefore undeserving of her affections. So the center of the show, even though we don”t address it at all, is this really fucked up woman who I love more than any character on that show because she would have been a brain surgeon, but she got pregnant at 17, and so she”s defensive about how she”s a horse heart surgeon because it takes less school to do that. And she”s selfish and she”s cold but she”s smart. She wears the pants in the family and she”s witty and she doesn”t like herself. She bothers to love her father and that keeps everything feasible because otherwise it would all fall apart. You”d go, “Why wouldn”t anyone say, ‘Stop doing that! Stop taking my son on these adventures!”?” The answer is because Jerry is terrified that Beth will leave him and Beth is terrified that Rick will leave her. And round and round we go. And so we have this beautiful suspension that could provide us with hundreds of episodes."Mega Dan Harmon interview, part 3: ‘Rick and Morty’ *"Beth's separation from Jerry is a blessing and curse for her. She has been defining her life by her marriage straight out of high school to this unremarkable man that she in her mind compares to her mother, while fetishizing exceptionality in the form of her father. That excuse being removed, it just allows us to put the spotlight on Beth a little bit and start asking a few more questions about her, who she is in a vacuum. " Everything Dan Harmon Told Us About What Happens in Rick and Morty Season 3 References es:Beth Smith it:Beth Smith Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Smith Family Category:Protagonists Category:Humans Category:Beths Category:Love Interests Category:Sanchez Family Category:Jerry's Love Interests